BYRNE, THOMAS JOSEPH

Architect, of Dublin. Thomas Joseph Byrne was born on 15 November 1876(1) in Kingston-on-Thames, the son of Richard Byrne of the Surrey Militia (formerly of the Royal Irish Fusiliers) and his wife Harriet, née Knight.(2) From 1891 to 1895 he was articled to a local architect in Kingston, Edward Carter, ARIBA.&ARIBA.& #160; In 1895 he came to Ireland to work in the office of ANTHONY SCOTT ANTHONY SCOTT in Drogheda,(3) then returned to Carter's office in London in 1898. On passing his RIBA final examination the following year, he became an assistant architect with the London County Council. In this position he worked on the design of fire stations and on working-class hostels of the Rowton House type.(4) He was said to have lived for a time in such a hostel in order to study its features in a practical way.

Byrne returned to Ireland in 1901 to marry Anthony Scott's eldest daughter, Mary Ellen ('May') Scott - the wedding took place at the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin on 29 August 1901 - and to take up the post of council clerk and architect to the South Dublin Rural District Council.(5) He was responsible for the erection of hundreds of well-designed and attractive labourers' cottages in south County Dublin(6) and was a pioneer of improved public housing in Ireland, stressing the importance of aspect and and advocating the inclusion of a parlour in any plan. He also stressed the choice of local matarials wherever possible. Around 1918 the RIAI nominated him one of the three assessors for the government-sponsored architectural competition for housing schemes.(7) In 1919 he was appointed housing inspector to the Local Government Board.(8) With the establishment of the Provisional Government of Ireland in 1922, he was transferred to the newly established Local Government Department and had been promoted to the position of Acting Chief of the Local Government Housing Board, when, on the retirement of ANDREW ROBINSON ANDREW ROBINSON in February 1923, he applied successfully for the post of chief architect to the Board of Public Works.(9) For a time he heldboth jobs simultaneously. In August 1923 he represented the Irish Free State at a conference on housing and town planning held in Gothenburg, Sweden.(10) Among his first tasks as chief architect to the Board of Public Works, he was faced with the restoration of the many government buildings which had been damaged or destroyed in the War of Independence - the most prominent among them being the General Post office, the Custom House and the Four Courts - as well as with providing accommodation for the new Irish government and civil service.

In addition to his considerable burden of duties with the Board of Public Works, Byrne was a founder member and, from 1929 to 1939, vice-chairman of the Institute of Christian Art, established in Dublin in 1929 to promote an indigenousstyle of church design and decoration in Ireland, and was a member of the city decorations sub-committee for the Eucharistic Congress of 1932, when he introduced floodlighting for the first time in Dublin.(11) In 1936 he was appointed to the Industrial Research Council.(12) He was an external examiner in architecture to the National University of Ireland.

Byrne died suddenly of a heart attack on 27 January 1939 and was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery. Always extremely meticulous in carrying out his reponsibilities, his death may have been hastened by overwork, as well as by the asthma and bronchitis which persisted for most of his life. He was succeeded at the Office of Public Works by JOHN MATTHEW FAIRWEATHER.&JOHN MATTHEW FAIRWEATHER.& #160; He and May Scott had two sons and two daughters. The sons, Niall C. Byrne and T. Brendan Byrne, both became engineers.

Writing as 'Oculus' in the Irish Builder, HARRY ALLBERRYHARRY ALLBERRY , who interviewed the forty-six-year-old Byrne in 1923, describes him as having 'the silver hair one associates with the sixties, together with a freshness of complexion and an alertness of a man in the thirties…Many who meet him for the first time may labour under the impression that a certain slowness of speech, and an unusual reserve, betray lack of interest in the matter under discussion. No deduction could be more erroneous. A false argument or a slovenly statement will at once discover to the unfortunate speaker that behind a quiet and unassuming demeanour an active mind and an exceptionally retentive memory are working, and that Mr Byrne is as shrewd in his judgment as he is strong in his determination.'(13)

Between 1987 and 1989 Byrne's elder daughter, Ethna Byrne-Costigan, presented the IAA with various material relating to her father and to the Scott family, and in 1993 his grandson John Byrne loaned further material, including T.J. Byrne's RIBA testimonies and some designs for a small country house (1897-8) and for a house for his son, T.B. Byrne, at 23 Butterfield Drive, Dublin (1933).(14) In 2008 John Byrne presented the IAA with a portrait of Byrne by Sean Dixon, which appears to be based on the photograph which illustrated Harry Allberry's article.

AAI: member, 1914; president, 1923-4. RIAI: elected member, 1915;(15) elected fellow, 17 January 1921;(16) vice-president, 1926 and 1937;(17) council member, 1923,1929-1930,1933,1935,1938-1939.(18) RIBA: elected associate, 5 March 1900, having been proposed by WALTER GLYNN DOOLINWALTER GLYNN DOOLIN , J. Hebb and T. Glashill. ICEI: elected member, 2 April 1917;(19) council member, 1930-31;(20) gives lecture on the reconstruction of Four Courts, 9 Jan 1928(21) which was the subject of a discussion at the meeting of 2 April 1928.(22)

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from John Byrne and Michael Fewer, Thomas Joseph Byrne: Nation Builder (South Dublin Libraries, 2013), the fullest account of Byrne's life and works to date (2013), and from a number of earlier sources, namely the biography of Byrne by 'Oculus' in IB 65, 19 May 1923, 373, which appears to be based on information supplied directly to the author by Byrne himself, the obituaries in IB 81, 4 Feb 1939, 87, and RIBAJ 46 (1938-39), 472, and Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 (RIBA 2001), I, 318-9. See also the entry by Helen Andrews in Dictionary of Irish Biography, ed. by James McGuire and James Quinn, 9 vols. (Cambridge University Press, 2009), II, 226-7. Some of the details of Byrne's early life conflict with the information in Ethna Byrne-Costigan's memoirs of her childhood, 'Ethna Mary Twice', published under the nom-de-plume of 'Ethna Bee Cee' by the Vantage Press, New York, in 1989. A much abridged version of the 'Oculus' article, illustrated with the same photograph of Byrne, is in Building News 124, 15 Jun 1923, 728. The photograph of Byrne which illustrates the article by 'Oculus' also accompanies the obituary in the Irish Builder and appears in IB 73, 24 Oct 1931, 913, and in AAI Green Book (1924), 24. An earlier photograph is among the material presented to the IAA by Ethna Byrne-Costigan. A portrait by Sean Dixon, apparently after the photograph in the 'Oculus' article, is in the Irish Architectural Archive (Acc. 2008/39)

New library on site donated by Carmelite monks. Tenders invited Nov/Dec 1909. Opened by J.J. Clancy, MP, 3 Jan 1911. Contractor: James Clarke, Clanbrassil St. Cost: £1400. Difference of £200 between this amount and £1600 supplied by Mr Carnegie used to furnish building.

Restoration, including restoration of dome, and reconstruction of northern block. with W.H. Cooke, for Commissioners of Public Works. Site being cleared of rubble, Mar 1925, when final plan of the reconstructed building was not yet decided; wings were to be rebuilt at once to provide office accommodation; dome to be replaced by one in ferro-concrete. Tenders invited for erection of supreme court, Aug 1927.

TJB designs Celtic-inspired canopy over statue by Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866-1918) showing figure of Ireland supporting wounded soldier in volunteer uniform. (Artist bequeathed £1000 for her model to be carved in Carrara marble in Italy and to be erected in Dublin with limestone canopy to protect it.)

Remodelling of existing building (formerly part of Bank or Ireland) by Office of Public Works to form new premises for Currency Commission. New stonework on facade of Portland stone and Ballyknocken granite. Carving by Pettain (brackets) and Mather (urns). TJB principal architect. C.W. Pemberton, FSI, assistant architect. Contractors: G. & T. Crampton Ltd, Hmmersmith Works, Ballsbridge.